No waves of native grain ever stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of North America.  Guns, Germs And Steel

Independence is for the very few; it is a privilege of the strong. And whoever attempts it even with the best right but without inner constraint proves that he is probably not only strong, but also daring to the point of recklessness. He enters into a labyrinth, he multiplies a thousandfold dangers which life brings with it in any case, not the least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way, becomes lonely, and is torn piecemeal by some minotaur of conscience. Supposing one like that comes to grief, this happens so far from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it nor sympathize. And he cannot go back any longer. Beyond Good and Evil

Where pride is insistent enough, memory prefers to give way. Man and His Symbols

Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past. Book IV